


A Curious Case

by daisiesforlacey



Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV)
Genre: (Spoilers but not really: they get arrested), AU where the boys and Julie are in college, Alex gets dragged into shit, Alternate Universe - College/University, Attempt at Humor, Everyone Is Alive, F/M, Fluff, Food Fight, Hijinks & Shenanigans, Humor, M/M, Reggie loves his car too much, Road Trips, Robbery, Unreliable Narrator, really they're all just dumbasses
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-26
Updated: 2020-12-12
Packaged: 2021-03-10 05:26:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 15,060
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27728087
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/daisiesforlacey/pseuds/daisiesforlacey
Summary: “Son, can you tell me how this happened?”And yeah, Alex really wished he could. “I can tell you parts.”OR: The gang takes a road trip, things go awry, and and no one knows what went down or how they got here. Whatever it is, it was probably Reggie's fault.
Relationships: Alex/Willie (Julie and The Phantoms), Julie Molina/Luke Patterson
Comments: 11
Kudos: 123





	1. Alex

“Son, can you tell me how this happened?”

And yeah, Alex really wished he could. “I can tell you parts.”

The man sat across from was stocky and reminded him of one of his father’s friends. His uniform was darker than the others, and so were the bags under his eyes. His hair seemed to have migrated down from his head and congregated to his bushy mustache. The nametag read ‘Justice,’ and Alex rolled his eyes. How ironic.

He hated him already.

He looked away from the man to the one way mirror and rolled his eyes. He imagined others were watching him; the only woman on the force (short, feisty, and overlooked, of course), the tall, dark haired stoic one, the blonde, chipper one, and the newbie. But that was only his knowledge from his Willie’s bad 80s cop movies. It was only this morning that he had woken up by his side, the sun streaming in through the blinds.

In his reflection, he saw that he wasn’t the most innocent looking person; his jean jacket was covered in dried strawberry milkshake, his hair still untamed, a large bruise threatened to turn dark on his temple, and he smelled like a dumpster fire. 

He was going to kill Reggie.

Alex rubbed a hand over his temples, the other cuffed to the cold table. The officer clicked a pen on a yellow pad and looked at him expectantly.

“I guess I should start at the beginning.”

All Alex wanted was a cup of coffee.

He turned over in his bed, the sheets rustling and the soft light filtering through his window. Sleep laid over his skin and everything in the moment felt delicate, as if any sound would be too loud. Alex stretched his body out, pointing his toes and reaching his hands to the bed frame, just brushing the carved flowers. Even his breathing was too boisterous. If he patted to the right, he knew he would feel his boyfriend sound asleep, his hair fanned out around him. Probably drooling.

Alex reluctantly moved the duvet off of himself, swinging his legs to the side of the bed, standing on the cold floor. He padded to the bathroom and brushed his teeth, inspecting himself in the mirror. He had pillowcase creases on his cheek and his face was red and splotchy. His hair was flipped every which way and pressed to the back of his neck. If Willie saw him he would say that his hair felt like sunshine. Whatever that means.

As he strolled into the kitchen and set the coffee pot, Alex went over his day. 

He and Willie would go to the home store and get some mulch; their small dogwood trees had been in need of some TLC. They would then stop by Dunkin Donuts, and get a Boston Crème and a Cruller, maybe a couple original glaze for Luke and Julie if he was feeling particularly generous. The couple would get a very late lunch and then swing by the bank, finally returning home in time to make dinner and watch Jeopardy (in which Alex would try and fail to get correct answers on topics he has very little knowledge about, and Willie would spout out some word that he didn’t know existed from his cache of random facts without batting an eye). It was a predictable rhythm; a comforting one.

His perfect day was washed away by the sound of his phone. He looked over to the counter and saw the caller ID, he inwardly groaned; how was Reggie even awake right now? He barely got out of bed at half past noon, even prompted by his favorite breakfast. There was no way in hell that the brunet was in a right state of mind, being up at 8.

Alex mulled over if he should answer or not; it was Saturday and he could plausibly be sleeping in right now, he had the day off. But then again, was he really a good friend if he didn’t answer? Knowing Reggie, it could just be that a spider was in his shower and he needed someone to come pick it up. Or it could be a life threatening situation, he could have burned down his apartment building. Both of those seemed equally as reasonable.

But of course he caved, and picked up the phone right as his coffee was done. 

“Alexander, I have got big news!” Alex paused, this wasn’t expected at all. Reggie? Awake and chipper? No way. Maybe he was being held at gunpoint.

He picked a mug up from the drying rack and poured a cup, “Big news? On a Saturday? Did someone we hate die? Because that’s the only good reason I can think that you would be awake right now.” He cringed at his voice, it was rough with sleep and lack of use. 

Reggie let out a scoff and Alex could practically see his eyebrow arch. “No, no one has died. It’s even better than that!”

Alex supposed he should gawk at the statement, but he was too tired to care. He had, after all, instigated it. He poured milk into the coffee, turning it to a light chocolate color and added a pinch of sugar, so miniscule that he couldn’t taste it, and yet somehow Willie could. He noticed when Alex forgot it a few mornings ago, but thanked him nonetheless for the mug with a kiss on the cheek as he rushed out the door. He was sure he had a dopey smile on his face, one that Julie had said was reserved only for Willie.

“I-” His response was cut off by a blaring car horn, almost making him drop the mug.

“I know I should have given you a bigger heads up, but I forgot.” Alex’s eyes widened. If Reggie was outside of his doorstep, he was going to murder him. He didn’t even care if people could see it. “But get some clothes on, because I know you’re not dressed, and come on!”

Before Alex could protest, Reggie hung up. 

He supposed he could just ignore him, but then the brunet would storm up the cinder block steps and knock as loudly as he could for as long as necessary until Alex swung the door open. That would lead to Willie waking up, and Alex chewing Reggie out, before ultimately leaving with him anyways. 

Alex rolled his eyes and reluctantly scribbled down a note explaining his whereabouts and promising to be home before lunch. He grabbed his fanny pack and a basic outfit, hopping into his socks before shoving shoes on and trudging out of the door. 

Reggie beamed and waved from inside of a car that Alex had never seen in his life. It was scuffed to all hell, revealing the silver under the tan paint. The bumper had been unceremoniously duct taped to the car, the license plate crooked and bent, if Alex had to hazard a guess he would say it was Wyoming. Still, Reggie looked happy as a clam.

He stalked to the passengers side and reached towards the door, “Ah, be careful, the handle already came off this morning and I do _not_ want to try and put it back on again.” Reggie chuckled and opened it from the inside. The car smelled of pine and sulfur, and Alex couldn’t wait to have to scrub the scent out of his clothes.

He sat down with a plunk, “This thing is not safe. In the slightest.” Alex had been trying to convince Reggie to get a new car, but this was not what he meant.

“Betsy? Nah, she’s reliable.” They pulled out of the driveway, Alex wincing when they trampled his hydrangeas.

“And how long have you had ‘Betsy?’” Alex asked with heavy air quotes. He reached up to buckle himself in and the spool felt right into his hand. He looked incredulously at Reggie and heard him mumble something under his breath.

Alex was already looking for his escape route. He was sure that if he shoved his shoulder hard enough, the door would come off of it’s hinges. Maybe that would happen if he just tapped it. He could possibly convince Reggie to turn around, but some small, dangerous part of him wanted to see how bad this could get.

“What was that?” 

Reggie piped up, “I said, about an hour.” 

Alex was going to strangle him. He was serious this time.

He was taking him on a joyride in a vehicle of death. He wasn’t even going to have the chance to say goodbye to his boyfriend. What type of life was this?

“We’re also picking up Luke and Julie.”

Holding the seat belt, Alex whipped his head, “So you had time to call them but didn’t call me until you were literally. At. My. Doorstep.”

Reggie shot him an unimpressed look, “You would have come no matter what. And I didn’t want to walk into whatever the dynamic duo may or may not be doing.” Alex understood that; he wouldn’t want to either.

“And where are we going?” By now Alex was warming up to whatever was happening. Or at least coming to terms with his current situation. “I need to be back by lunch; Willie and I need to run some errands.”

They pulled onto Luke and Julie’s block, a sunny little square of suburbia. The street was the ideal place to live, sidewalks were slightly cracked, lawns were maintained, and mailboxes were all in a row. Alex and Willie would have moved on the same block if he didn’t think he’d start a very passive aggressive HOA war. So they settled for the apartments over. Willie liked them better anyway, that way they could save up for a house near his parent’s.

“I’m thinking, the movies.”

“Who’s Willie?” Officer Justice knocked his pen on the paper, ink blots splashing. The Air Conditioning creaked on despite there already being a chill in the early morning, and despite Alex already having a sweatshirt on, he found himself shivering. That could’ve also been his anxiety. He knew that he wasn’t _really_ in the wrong, but he couldn’t help think that somehow, maybe, he was. And yet, he still didn’t want to give this cop any information about anything. 

It was a delicate balance.

“I live with him.” Technically, that wasn't a lie.

The officer hummed and noted something else in his chicken scratch. “You left your house at around 8:17 when-” He looked down, “Reginald, took you and the couple to the Royal Theater on Maple Street?”

“No, Bitch, ah, Birch Street.” Alex smirked as he looked down. Justice was nodding along, as if he didn’t notice the purposeful Freudian Slip. Actually, the cop was right, the Theatre is on Maple, but who was Alex to pass up a chance to mess with people. 

_”-Museum of Death was broken into at 5:34 this morning, luckily no damage was done to the building and no injuries have been reported, although one of the skeletons is missing. Security camera footage shows 3 culprits, supposedly all adults. If you or anyone you know has any information please call-”_

The radio was cut off as they pulled into the parking lot of the Royal Theatre. Despite its name, the establishment looked anything but royal; it had been open since before their parents were born and it was a wonder how it was still open. It was also the cheapest.

“You brought us here, do you have money?” Luke was tapping on the back of Alex’s seat, humming something when he looked to Reggie.

Reggie only shook his head and unbuckled himself. The spool miraculously didn’t fall off. 

Julie groaned, and Alex could tell she was reluctant to take part of whatever was going to happen. Alex was too, but when he and the guys get together, it can only be expected that he would be dragged into something. Especially with Luke’s big hazel eyes. 

They hopped out of the car, seats squishing suspiciously. The day had warmed up significantly, and was already starting to feel muggy; Alex was glad he had worn layers, and had rolled his eyes when Luke showed up in yet another sleeveless shirt. 

“So who _is_ paying?” Julie asked as they stalked into the lobby. The guys shared a look, yeah the tickets were like a dollar each, but the theatres also smelled like hotdog water.

Luke looked between the empty front, lacking a worker behind the counter, and Alex. Alex was already shaking his head.

“No, no. Hell no. I would rather die.” He shook his head violently.

“I mean no one would need to know. It’s not like they really make money anyways.” Luke jutted his bottom lip out.

“Which is definitely why we should pay! It’s a small business!” He was already gripping his pack with two hands. He looked to Julie, who had her hands in her pocket.

“Technically,” Julie started and Alex regretted Luke’s bad influence on her, “It’s a chain. There’s one in Pasadena.”

The blond opened his mouth to retort but Reggie was already stalking near the theatres and gestured to a poster with a knowing smirk. “C’mon Alex. They’re showing Jurassic Park!”

And fuck, he loved that movie.

Reggie shoved the door with his shoulder, not wanting to risk touching the handle, Luke following. Julie looked over her shoulder and took his hand, dragging him into the theatre. It was small, maybe 30 seats at most, and the floor was unnervingly tacky. No one else was there, and the movie was already about 10 minutes in. Alex bargained with the thought that he had seen it so many times that he knew the timestamps.

He was always getting dragged into these stupid ideas.

“So you agree, that this entire thing was Lucas’ and Reginald’s fault?” The cop interrupted him in the middle of his sentence.

“Yes, -well, no-,” Alex huffed, he wouldn’t put any blame on his friends. All for one and one for all. Or however that went. “It hasn’t been proven that anyone did anything to warrant any sort of blame. Innocent until proven guilty. Also, don’t I get an attorney?” Alex wasn’t about to be snuffed.

The other man grumbled, “We can hold you for 24 hours until we get any solid evidence of your crimes. I think we have all that we need, but the legal procedure still stands.”

Alex noted how he didn’t mention a lawyer or a phone call, but he was also the first one to be questioned. Maybe someone else had called someone. Maybe he should’ve just kept his mouth shut. But when he got nervous, he talked. Not that he would let Justice know that.

“Now here is where things get foggy.”

In hindsight, maybe Jurassic Park wasn’t the best movie to see. While he couldn’t look away from the screen, Luke and Julie were encapsulated in their own little world. Reggie was surely out of it. 

It also wasn’t the most well thought out plan, probably because there was no plan. The movie ended and the credits rolled. Alex coud admit that he was a bit misty eyed, but that always happened. Luke sat to his right and Reggie was passed out on his shoulder. He had no idea how anyone could sleep in a movie theatre, but his friends never failed to remind him. His stomach grumbled, and now he regretted not buying tickets; at least they could have gotten snacks. 

The door below them creaked open and Alex’s blood ran cold. 

The usher swept along the stairs, whistling a tune. She was short, about the same age as them, and was almost invisible in her all black uniform. He didn’t know if he should move or not. If he went to wake Reggie, he would say something undoubtedly stupid. Maybe the usher wasn’t aware that they hadn’t bought tickets, maybe they could just act normal. But Alex was never good at acting.

He looked to Luke, “We can try to get out of here without suspicion, we can play it cool. Totally. We’re great at lying. Absolutely.”

Luke gave him an exasperated look. “This isn’t going to end well.”

He was right. Of course.

Alex hoisted an arm under Reggie’s, ignoring the grumble from the brunet. He lugged the boy between the seats until he was awake enough to have a semblance of direction. He gave Alex a disoriented look, “Wha-”

Alex shushed him.

Luke and Julie stalked down the dimly lit stairs, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible, his arm flung over her shoulders. Trying and failing. “That was a great movie that we paid to see at this fine establishment. I love supporting local businesses with my hard earned money.”

Julie nodded, every movement exaggerated. “Absolutely. I agree with you, I love, uh” She looked up at the screen, “Back to the Future.” Alex mentally facepalmed.

The usher gazed up from under her cap at the bottom of the steps, “I don’t remember seeing you come in. I only saw an old couple today.”

Julie shook her head violently, “Nope we came right in, remember? Yeah, we got a box of twizzlers to share.” She patted Luke’s hand.

The other girl narrowed her eyes, gripping the broom handle, “We don’t sell twizzlers.”

Fuck.

“Uh, oh, um,” Luke stuttered, “Okay, well bye.” 

He pushed past her, tripping on the steps. Julie threw her hands up, “Yeah, sure, leave us all to fend for ourselves. Boyfriend of the year award.” She too then ran out with a regretful glance to the girl.

Alex stumbled over his feet, Reggie dragging him down. The girl shakily pulled her phone from the back pocket, her eyes flitting between him and Reggie and the door, clearly torn. “I’m going to call the cops.”

Alex so regretted not being able to reach his wallet, so he tried a different approach, “Look, I’m so sorry, I’ll pay you back later. Promise. What was it, like, 10 dollars? Yeah, totally. Please don’t call the cops. We’re broke college students, we don’t need to be going to jail right now.”

Reggie was now mostly conscious and looked up at the girl and smiled dopily, “Hey, I’m Reggie.” Alex rolled his eyes. This was maybe the worst timing for him to flirt.

The girl huffed, ignoring him, close to typing the number. She chewed on her lip and her brow furrowed. Before she could make a decision, Alex dragged the brunet with him into the lobby, calling out over his shoulder, “Again! I’m sorry!” 

He pushed Reggie off of him when they got to the lobby, “C’mon man! You gotta drive!”

He stumbled to find his footing, legs buckling. Alex pushed out of the building, the sun almost blinding him, and Reggie followed closely behind. He scanned the area for the beat up car, and saw Luke and Julie already in it, waving frantically for them to move. He could hear the girl inside wailing at them. 

He swung around and hopped into the car, which groaned with the weight. Reggie did the same and spilled the car out of the parking lot and onto the highway, the tires screeching. “I hate that I left the door unlocked! That’s so unsafe.” He seemed to still have a drowsy haze about him.

“As if anyone would try to steal this thing.” Julie groaned.

Reggie patted the hood affectionately, “Nah, Betsy is reliable. _Aren’t you? Yes you are!_ ”

Luke placed a hand on his shoulder, “As someone who loves you, you need to get out more.”

Julie and Alex snorted at the same time.  
The brunet only rolled his eyes and flipped on the radio, the same new channel playing as before. He flipped the controls until he came across an 80s pop station playing a Whitney Houston song. Alex smiled in approval and hummed to himself, they should cover more of her songs. Julie would kill her vocals.

Alex watched as the trees flew by, pressing his forehead to the cracked glass as a silence fell over them. The sun was now high above them and Alex’s stomach churned some more. He hadn’t even gotten his cup of coffee that morning. He noticed that they weren’t heading back to any of their houses and wondered where Reggie was taking them. He asked him, “Reg, where are we going?”

Reggie bopped his head along, “I was thinking food, or did you not just hear yourself?”

“Yes. Please.” Julie said, “I noticed a sign for a In-N-Out back there.”

Alex couldn’t see it, but he knew that Luke was nodding enthusiastically, “As long as I can get a milkshake.”

“Ooh, same. Strawberry’s the bomb.” Alex said with a pointed finger.

“Reggie’s paying!” Luke shouted.

“No, I am not!” The driver responded, “I have to pay for gas from lugging all of you guys around.”

“Uh, no! You’re the one who was all like, ‘I’m picking you guys up! You better be decent!’” Julie did her best Reggie impression, which admittedly Alex thought was pretty bad, but the effect was still the same. 

“And weren’t you glad that I dragged you guys along! Band bonding time! Trademark Reggie, circa 2000.”

Luke gasped in mock offense, “I was having a perfectly good time before you called. I mean Julie and I were-”

“Nope, stopping you right there. We are not oversharing right now.” Julie shot a withering glare at Luke.

“Um uh, okay…” Alex looked between the two of them when Reggie pulled off the highway. They pulled into the In-N-Out and Alex pulled out his phone to make a list of orders for the gang. “What does everyone want?”

A cacophony of shouting erupted. You’d think that after all of these years, they’d learn to order in an orderly fashion. But of course not. Finally he got all of the requests down in his notes before handing the phone to Reggie. They retrieved their orders from the window and Alex passed out all of the food; a double-double and chocolate shake for Luke, a cheeseburger animal style and a Lemonade for Julie, and a hamburger and fries for Reggie. Alex got a strawberry shake and a cheeseburger, ready to scarf them down. Julie, the ever responsible one, ended up paying. 

They pulled out of the drive thru and onto some backroads. Alex knew that Reggie always felt more comfortable when he wasn’t on the highway. The car was silent as everyone dug into their food. And yeah, it did make him nervous that Reggie was paying more attention to the burger than the road, but he couldn’t blame him. 

They passed a few houses and neighborhood and Alex watched a few families play in their yard. His mind wandered to days at the playground with Reggie and Luke when they were in 5th grade. How Reggie would always favor the slide and Luke would race him on the monkey bars, which once led him to break his wrist. He would always insist that Luke pushed him off to his dying breath.

Alex was brought out of his thoughts when Reggie slammed on the breaks, his precious strawberry milkshake going everywhere. 

“What the actual fuck!?” Surprisingly, Alex wasn’t the one who yelled, but rather Julie. He was still too much in shock to feel the pink milkshake start to seep through to his shirt.

“There was a child!” Reggie squawked indignantly, waving towards the side of the road where a mother was holding a small boy in her arms. Reggie wasn’t unaffected either, he had fries all covering him and a few stuck in his hair.

“Then run the damn kid over! Anything to save the food!” He turned around to see that Julie’s burger was strewn across the back of the car and Luke’s milkshake spilt all over the seat. He looked utterly heartbroken. 

“I’m not murdering kids!” 

“You murdered my shake!” Luke cried.

“No I did not!” Reggie replied. Alex opened the dashboard compartment and looked around the nooks and crannies of the car before having an epiphany. Of course there weren’t any napkins, he had just gotten the car today. Of course.

“If this stains my sweatshirt, I will take a sledgehammer to your bass.” Alex threatened lowly.

“You wouldn’t dare.” He glowered.

“Try me.”

“That’s how you ended up so…” The officer gestured to Alex’s appearance, his nose turned up. As if Alex wanted to dress like this; dumpster chic. He almost laughed at his own stupid joke, something he could easily see Reggie doing.

“So disgusting?” Alex nodded, “Yeah.”

“And that was around 10:30? Where does the dog come in?”

The blond rolled his eyes, “I’m getting there.”

After much more debate, they forced Reggie to turn around and go back to In-N-Out. They got some napkins, but didn’t take the chance with more food. Sadly, by then the milkshake had already left a crust on his jacket, and his friends had their own stains. They then also kicked Reggie off of driving duty with a ruthless game of rock-paper-scissors; nobody else wanted to drive the death mobile. 

Luke ended up behind the wheel. 

“Oh god, take it easy.” Reggie winced from the passengers seat when Luke took a right turn particularly hard. “Betsy’s old.”

Julie scoffed from where she was sitting next to Alex, “Really? I hadn’t noticed.”

“Hey!”

“You’re right. That was a little mean.” Julie sighed. “We’re all glad that you got a new car. Just maybe this isn’t the ideal.”

“Dude, this was mega ideal! My aunt dropped it off this morning after seeing my moms Facebook post! I got a whole care! For free.” Reggie beamed.

And yeah, Alex could make a snide comment about how the car definitely looked like it was free, but he just couldn’t. Why would he burst his friends' bubble? Not when he looked so happy. 

Apparently, the others thought the same thing, because Luke just shrugged and went back to humming whatever was on the radio. Sadly, not Whitney.

Just then, he pulled the car over to the side of the road with a gasp and Alex groaned.

Alex threw his hands in the air, “No! No more! No more detours! I need to go home to my boyfriend! ASAP!” He was tired already of the happenings of the day. 

Reggie waved his hand to shush Alex, “Shhhhhhh! Look!”

And no, Alex wouldn’t look. He wouldn’t. Absolutely not. He was not going to be wrapped up in anymore of these shenanigans. He just wanted to climb back in bed and go to sleep next to Willie and wake up the next morning and have his perfect day. He just wanted to go get donuts. And definitely not get one for his friends. There was no way he was looking. Hell. No.

But dammit, he caved.

He looked over his shoulder to see a small white puppy, a mutt, he thought, but he was never good with dog breeds. He watched as Luke got out of the car and ushered the dog over. The brunet was beaming with childish joy and he was sure that Julie felt the same as Alex did.

“No! We are not taking a dog! Who knows where that thing has been!” Alex protested.  
Reggie looked back at him with wide, glossy eyes. 

Alex wanted to continue, but Reggie stopped him. “But look at him, he’s so cute! He-” The bassist suddenly cut off.

Luke was now holding the dog and Alex could see that the puppy has small silver spots and big paws. He also noticed that Luke was holding the dog at arm's length, which was weird, because Luke loved small, happy things (hence dating Julie, not that Alex would ever say that to his face).

Alex then saw the skull in it’s mouth.

He passed out.

“And then I woke up in the car just like this. Julie, Luke, and Reggie and the dog were outside. We were next to that overturned dumpster, and it was dark. I didn’t have time to even talk to them before I saw the lights. The cops showed up, you guys took us in, and then you started questioning me.”

“That’s it? That’s all you remember? What about what happened between 11 AM and 9PM? You have a 10 hour lapse of memory. And how did you get on the other side of town?”

Alex leaned back, the chain rattling, “Like I said, I don’t have it all. You’ll have to ask the others.”

Justice ran a hand over his wide face. “Kid, you have a count of trespassing, vandalism, and petty theft under your belt right now. I‘m going to need more answers.”

“That’s all the answers you’re getting. Not my problem.”

“Are you saying that you didn’t do anything? That all of this was your friends doing?”

“Oh no, don’t twist this” Alex hunched over the table and looked the officer directly in the eye, “I’m sure I did something. I just don’t know what.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! 
> 
> I already have the rest planned out, I can't wait to write it!


	2. Luke

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A minor CW: there are guns MENTIONED, but not in the story or seen. If you need to, feel free to skip from "Deep down, Luke knew..." and pick back up at "Just then..." :)
> 
> Please enjoy!

In all fairness, Luke knew he was an asshole. He was cocky and self assured and knew exactly how to get what he wanted. He held his head high and never looked down, they didn’t book gigs by walking in and asking nicely. He was cool and he knew it. Only this time, it seemed to work against him. 

“That’s not how your friend said it went down. He said, and I quote, ‘Luke picked up the dog, and then I passed out.’” The officer stared at him, a dangerous gleam in his eye. “Are you lying to me?”

“Me? Lie? Never. I’m just saying I didn’t pick up Jimi Hendrix, Reggie did.” In all truth, he really did remember Reggie picking up the mutt off the side of the road, Alex must’ve had it twisted.

He could see his smirk in the one way glass, maybe the only thing about him that still remained from the start of the day. He had on a _way_ too small shirt that restricted his movements, half of his arm was stained a deep blue, he had a split lip, and his vans were now stained with his long dead chocolate milkshake. 

“You named the dog Jimi Hendrix?” The cop looked at him like he was a delinquent. Which he wasn’t. Absolutely wasn’t. 

“Yes. You’ve got a problem with that?”

The stocky man leaned back in his chair, arms crossed. “I don’t even know who that is.” 

Luke gawked. Somehow, he hated the man even more. Deep down, he knew that the guy was only trying to provoke him, who didn’t know who the greatest guitarist of all time was? He knew that the man was trying to get a reaction out of him, one that would warrant further questioning and maybe a charge. Really, he did know. That still didn’t stop him from being an ass. 

“Of course you wouldn’t.” Julie was going to kill him. At least he would die at the hands of her.

The cop raised an eyebrow, “I wouldn’t be so smug if I were you. But continue.”

“Oh jeez, he’s out like a light.” Julie opened Alex’s eyes, seeing it rolled back into his head. She placed a hand underneath his nose and let out a sigh of relief when she felt him still breathing. They had maneuvered him to lay down in the back seat and took off his hoodie in hopes of getting the blond to wake up. They had cranked the air conditioning as high as it would go, which wasn’t very high at all. 

Reggie was still holding the small dog at arm's length, the bone still in it’s small mouth. That was a problem for future him. 

Luke stood with his hands on his hips, “Is there anything we can do?” Him passing out was far from ideal, they had a rogue dog, and he still didn’t know why Reggie had picked them up in the first place. 

“I don’t think so. We should probably get some ice or something, though. Maybe a gas station.” Julie responded and Luke nodded his head, yeah of course, that made sense. 

Reggie grumbled something about how they acted like he was a chauffeur, but his concern outweighed his disgruntlement. He thrust the dog towards Luke, “I’m driving, you’re holding the baby.”

He raised an eyebrow and took him, “He is not a baby. He has a skull in his mouth. He may be a murderer.”

The brunet rolled his eyes, “Would I let a murderer in my car? No. He’s a darling.” Reggie climbed into the creaking car and Luke reluctantly did the same. 

He turned to see Julie had her back with Alex’s legs in her lap. He set the dog on his lap, which looked at him with wide eyes and whined. Maybe the little guy wasn’t too bad, he thought. That was until he started gnawing on the piece of bone.

“No, no, no! I’m not having bone chips or whatever in my jeans!” He picked up the little guy and set him on the floorboards, they were dirty enough to where it wouldn’t matter. The dog somehow managed to look even more pitiful. And Luke hated to make him even more sad, but he reached to grab the skull from him with hesitant hands, trying to convince him that it wasn’t as gross as it really was. Before he touched it, he retracted his hand and took off his shirt in one smooth movement. 

“Luke, this is not the time.” Julie scolded, but that didn’t stop her from looking. He just shook his head, grabbing the head from the dog with his shirt, wrapping it up and tossing it behind him for her to catch with wide eyes. He picked the dog back up, the little guy was growing on him. He reached up to buckle himself up before remembering that Alex had broken the spool off of the car. Somehow.

As Reggie pulled out of the ditch Luke asked him, “I know you didn’t just pick us up to go to the movies, we could do that any time.”

He tapped on the steering wheel with right hand, alternating finger, a bassline. “Nothing, I just wanted to see you guys.”

Luke nodded his head and let the silence hold them, he knew Reggie would continue. “I mean, after the tour and classes starting, we don’t see each other too much.”

There it was. 

Julie and the Phantoms had gained enough traction to go on a 20 stop tour of the west coast and Canada the summer before college. They had recorded an EP in a small and cramped studio and set off, playing and writing new songs along the way. It was maybe the best couple months of Luke's life; being crammed on the cheapest tour bus they could get, living on junk food, and playing their hearts out to crowds of people. They were high on adrenaline and sleep deprivation. It was great.

Soon though, they had to return home and begin college, which was a challenge in and of itself. Julie had taken up a double major in Music Education and English, Luke was in the Contemporary Writing and Production program, and Alex in Behavioral Psychology. Reggie had been accepted into the Astrophysics program, something he held over his parents heads every time they came to visit. 

They were some lucky few that had enough money to get their own apartments, mostly so that they could still practice music. Still, it took a toll on them all. Classes left little time to see each other, let alone write and record. Thus, their band had been put on the backburner, each of them doing covers now and again on YouTube, just because. It was only because of Flynn that they still had a social media presence. Luke often found himself wishing for high school, when he could bike over to the studio and just play to his heart's content. 

“I miss it, too.” Luke was now looking forward, but he felt Reggie’s gaze on him.

He quirked a smile, “I wasn’t originally going to tell you, but I pulled some strings and got us a 4 hour slot at CC Records.”

Luke’s jaw dropped, “Reg…”

He waved a dismissive hand, “I know, I know. But it’s been months, and why not come back with a bang.”

Julie squealed from the back seat and wrapped her arms around Reggie’s shoulders from behind, “You’re the best!”

The brunet laughed with a lopsided grin, “Yeah, I know.”

Luke patted the white dog on his head, “Ok, but why did you pick us up at like, 8 in the morning. When’s the time slot?”

Reggie pulled a face, “There’s the catch...” He mumbled the rest of his words under his breath.

“Sorry, what was that?” Julie asked, eyebrows raised

“I said, it’s at like 10 PM.” He shot the other boy a sheepish grin as he groaned.

“Bro, that’s super late! How do you expect us to sing that well at 1 AM?” 

“Hey! I did what I could! To be fair, Willie’s also in on it. He agreed to bring all the instruments to the studio and meet us there. And, and!” He waved a hand frantically, “We have the whole day to do the things we always miss out on!”

Of course Willie was in on it, only the two of them could come up with such a hodgepodge plan. Although, Luke supposed he had a point. They lived in the tourist trap and hadn’t had the time to be tourists. Why the fuck not.

“Ooh, I’ve always wanted to go to the Last Bookstore! It’s like a writer's dream!” Julie beamed at Luke, and he couldn’t help but smile back. She just had the effect on him. 

“I’m down with that.”

“Wait.” The officer interrupted his story with a pointed finger. “You’re the kids with the song that’s always on? _Whatever happens even if I’m the last standing, imma stand tall_?” 

He raised an eyebrow, was he trying to go all good cop/bad cop? Or did he genuinely like their songs? “Yeah, that’s us.” 

The officer hummed. Luke read his name tag, ‘Justice.’ He just knew Alex had found that incredibly ironic.

“And the bones?”

“I tried to not let it freak me out too much.” Luke shrugged. 

They pulled up to the gas station, a small place on the outskirts of town. The Last Bookstore was only a 20 minute ride from there, and once they got some ice and Alex woke up, they’d be on their way. On the way there, they had negotiated that they would only choose indoor places to visit; the sky had been a dangerous gray and it would probably rain soon. They also came up with a small list of places they wanted to visit.

Julie offered to go inside, Reggie handing her his card and asking for some gas, dog food, ice, and hopefully a shirt for Luke. The two sat in the car and Luke turned to turn the radio up only to pause suddenly. 

“Oh my god.” His face was drained of color and he looked like he had seen a ghost.

“What?” Reggie looked around, maybe to see if someone had appeared. 

“The skull!” He pointed to the backseat where it lay, then to the dog now sleeping in his lap. “The dog! Oh my god!”

“Dude you are making no sense.” Reggie shook his head, “We already established that it was beyond weird.”

“I know where the skull is from! The Museum of Death! Remember the channel we were listening to when we pulled up to the movie theatre, they were saying how it had been broken into this morning!” Luke whipped his head to Reggie and saw his eyes widen with realization.

“Holy hell. And something must’ve happened with the culprits because now a stray dog is carrying around a human skull.”

“Exactly!”

“Do you know what that means?” Reggie stammered.

“That we could be mistaken for theives with this fucking dog with us?” Luke loved dogs, he really did, but not ones that could get them arrested.

“No - well yes - but no!” Reggie shook his head violently, “It means we get a free dog!”

“Reg, we have to get this back to the museum without looking like we stole it! We can’t just take the dog. What if they ask where the rest of the skeleton is? Do you know how suspicious it sounds for four teenagers to just be like, ‘Oh I don’t know, we just found a dog using the skull as a chew toy.’” Maybe Alex’s mannerisms had finally been rubbing off on Luke.

“Damn. Why do you only seem to formulate good thoughts when I can’t.”

Luke was about to retort when a black van pulled up to the gas station with a screech, masked figures jumping out. It was like something out of a buddy cop movie. Three figures ran into the convenience store and disappeared behind the postered windows. Luke wasn’t one to judge, but it looked suspiciously like a robbery. 

And Julie was still in there.

He was already reaching to unbuckle the non-existent buckle and passing the small dog to the other boy when he heard Reggie lock the doors, “Julie’s in there! What the fuck are you doing!”

He gave the other boy a stern look, “You will not be running in there guns-a-blazin’. The only thing you’ll do is cause more chaos. Julie can handle herself, they’re probably just wanting to get cash.”

Deep down, Luke knew Reggie was right, him walking in and yelling would only lead to more trouble. But Julie was in there, and he couldn’t just let her stay in there. Something could happen to her, anything could happen to her. He had seen too many cop shows to know that the masked figures would typically shoot at anything or anyone that protested. Hell, he couldn’t even remember seeing if the people did have guns on them. He prayed to whoever was out there that they didn’t. 

He considered the strength of the door, he could probably push hard enough and it would come off. He really wished Alex was awake right now, he would probably come up with a better plan than any of them. 

Just then, the masked figures ran out, speeding away in their van.

And before, he could get out, Julie came running out with an armful of stuff. She breathlessly threw herself in the car, dumping her armful in the floorboard, startling the dog that was now getting settled again.

Reggie and Luke erupted in a shouting match, each wanting to know what had happened and if she was okay.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa! I’m okay! I promise! I’m not injured. Everyone’s okay!” Julie rushed out, her face red as a tomato. “I even got everything we needed!”

“What happened?” Luke and Reggie asked at the same time.

“So I walked in and looked for all of the stuff and then suddenly these guys came barging in, demanding all that’s in the register like some sort of idiots. Everyone knows that they don't keep any more than, like, 300 dollars in there. And so all of the rest of us are stop-drop-and-rolling-”

“That’s for a fire.” Reggie popped up, as if that was impertinent information. Luke gave him a look, “Right, sorry, continue.”

“I already have all of the stuff I needed, and luckily, no one came in.” Luke felt that that was specifically targeted at him, but he let it slide, seeing as she had just come out of a traumatic situation. “One of the guys suddenly is saying, ‘Hey, that’s Julie Molina!’ and I freeze, I really thought that was it, that was the end of the line for me. So I’m trying not to cry.”

And then another one starts saying how one of my autographs would be big money. And I don’t know if I should be flattered or not. And I’m like, ‘Haha, yeah that’s me.’ And one of them says that if I give them an autograph, they’ll leave without any damage or anything stolen. So obviously I say hell yeah.” She took a big breath, “We’ll have to talk to Flynn about managing that mess later. But I think I just stopped a robbery.”

By now the other patrons were walking out. And Luke and Reggie stared at her in disbelief before he said something, “Are you okay though?”

The Latina girl nodded her head, “Yeah, I’m a little shaken up, but nothing happened. Just a scare.” She had a small smile, “And I got all of the stuff for free.”

They talk some more, and after Luke is one hundred percent sure that his girlfriend is alright, Reggie gets out to get gas. Julie hands him a shirt and he puts it on. It’s a bit small, his arms barely fit, and it read ‘Stay Trashy’ over a raccoon print. “Really?”

Julie snickered, “It was that or ‘Best Bridesmaid Ever.’ I figured you’d appreciate this more.”

Reggie hops back into the car and they leave the gas station.

Luke hums to himself, but pauses when he hears a sputtering, “What happened?”

“The Alex kid didn’t say anything about him waking up.” The officer interrupted him yet again. If he wanted to know his story so badly, why did he feel the need to stop him from telling it?

“ _I_ remember him waking up, but that could just be me. It’s been a long day. I could be wrong.” Luke leaned in as if he was sharing a secret, “‘Lex also might have a concussion from hitting the seat, I wouldn’t put it past him if his memory is shoddy. Also, before you ask, no, we didn’t call 911. I was freaking out and Reggie can’t think on his feet. The only thing I was worried about was Julie.”

The man narrowed his eyes and scribbled some more.

“You guys are the ones that stopped the robbery off of 31st? I thought it was some teenagers.” The cop gave him a slimy look. 

“Yep.” He replied, popping the p. Luke propped his feet up on the unforgiving table. 

“And the skull? Why didn’t you just give the skull back to the museum?” 

“Would you have given it back? With how incriminating it looked? C’mon, you’re smarter than that.” Luke pretended to mull it over in his head, “Or are you?”

Officer Justice gave him a look before sighing, “You’re just making this more difficult on yourself.”

Luke rolled his eyes.

“I’m always difficult.”

They filled Alex in on what the plan was, Julie giving him some water and a bag of ice for his head which now bore a nasty bruise. He then texted Willie and double checked that it was okay, his concerns being brushed off with a small, ‘of course.’ 

The gang drove to the bookshop with only minimal complaining from Alex, as long as he got a donut by the end of the day. Whatever that meant.

Julie called around and found a place to drop off the dog for an hour or so. When asked for a name, Luke supplied Jimi Hendrix without batting an eye. Julie responded with the name before second guessing herself.

The kennel was pretty dingy and looked like a place where illegal activity wasn’t uncommon, but Luke figured they’d only be a few minutes away from Jimi Hendrix and that if the dog would chew on a human skull, he’d be perfectly fine. Even when he looked at Luke like he had betrayed him. It was fine. Jimi Hendrix was going to be fine.

When they arrived at their destination, Luke was astounded.

The Last Bookstore was a consignment book and record store, and Luke could see just how much Julie was enthralled by it when they walked in, her eyes blown wide. The store smelled exactly how he thought it would and had an environment that made him want to stay there forever. There was organized chaos in the packed shelves in crooked order and the hodgepodge of tables, with tall columns and a second floor. Book sculptures were everywhere; an archway and a swooping wall decoration and even a bookshelf maze. He hadn’t even seen the record section yet.

Luke wondered how he had never been here before. 

Reggie waved at the guy in glasses working the front desk, Alex trailing behind him. Luke knew they had eyes as wide as he did. Julie took Luke’s hand and dragged him towards the fiction section where an old menagerie of couches sat.

The rest of the band slowly followed them, looking around, and Luke sat down with a hmph; the couch seemed to swallow him whole. Alex stood next to Reggie with his hands in his pockets, “You two are probably gonna stay here most of the time, right?”

Luke shrugged and turned to Julie, “I was thinking of getting a new notebook and maybe writing some. Probably go look at the records.”

Julie nodded, “Sounds good to me.”

“I want to go check out the non-fiction, I want to see if they have any Stephan Hawking-” Reggie started before Alex interrupted him with a hand on his shoulder.

“Oh! I can see about getting Willie a birthday present. Maybe they have a book on a collection of paintings by Monet or Lichtenstein or Remington!”

Julie rolled her eyes, “You just jumped around so much, like 100 years.”

A red blush coated Alex’s cheeks, “Those are really the only ones I know about from Willie’s ramblings.”

“Uh-huh, the rants you listen to while staring all moony-eyed, like he hung the sun?” Luke teased.

“It’s ‘hung the moon,’ Luke,” Alex retorted with playfully narrowed eyes and stuck his tongue out, “And don’t act like you don’t do the same for Julie.”

The girl mocked a gasp, her hand on her chest, “I am absolutely worth gawking over.”

“So is Willie. Have you seen the way his eyes crinkle when he smiles? Magical. Astounding.” He snapped in thought before turning to the brunet, “Reggie, give me a good word.”

“Supernal.”

Alex nodded, “Supernal.”

“Am I not supernal?” Julie questioned.

But Alex was already dragging Reggie to the non-fiction, “You guys are both supernal. Don’tdoanythingIwouldn’tdo, bye!” And they were lost among the shelves.

Luke and Julie somehow found their way to the notebook section, both not really _needing_ any more, but both also having a collection. They could never have too many. Julie’s father would call it an addiction, Luke called it an infatuation. To-may-to, to-mah-to.

The two scoured the shelves, each pulling down one they thought was interesting and showing it off to the others. Luke narrowed down his choices to a leather bound notebook and a plain blue one with pink pages. Luke chose the leather one, mostly because Julie insisted that, “You have to have it lined. Have you seen your handwriting? You need guidance.” And really, Julie was alway right.

They went up to the front desk, Julie’s own gold notebook in hand as she played with the baubles and trinkets set out: little calligraphy sets, bookmarks, reading timers, rulers. Luke watched as she texted the group chat to let the boys know to meet them at the front, and noticed that time already read one o’clock. How time flies when you no longer fear for your life. Julie handed the notebook to Luke with a beaming smile, and he in turn gave it to the clerk. He gave Luke and her a once over, taking in his trashy (literally) shirt and Julie’s own frazzled appearance, but it must’ve not been the weirdest thing he’s seen because he just let out a disinterested noise and proceeded to check them out.

They were just about to head outside when he heard a screeching.

“O! M! G! You’re Luke Patterson!”

He whipped his head around to see one of, what he presumed to be, the other workers based on the lanyard. He was decked out in all black and had an overall punk vibe that Luke gave him props for. He was more of a 90s person, but nevertheless. He seemed to abandon his job of shelving and as he got closer, Luke could see that he was around their age, but probably a little younger. 

Before Luke could respond, the guy was already shaking his free hand. He didn’t seem to spare a glance at how truly out of it the pair looked. “Oh my god, it’s such an honor. You’re, like, actually here! At my job! Can you believe it? THE Luke Patterson!”

“Uh yeah, hi.” Luke was used to fans at their concerts of course, and the stray request for a picture here and there, but mostly people gravitated towards Julie. She was the front-woman after all. And she was much more equipped to handle encounters like these. 

“Hi, I’m Julie? What’s your name?” She asked warmly.

The wide smile on the man's face dimmed a little bit as he looked down at the short girl. “Jake. You’re the one that sings right?”

Julie nodded, but Luke noticed her become a little more disenfranchised by the twitch in her neck, “Yep! I’m the ‘Julie’ in Julie and the Phantoms. Can we help you?”

Jake looked back to Luke with a renewed fire in her eyes. “I’m taking a picture with Lukey.”

What? No. How? Lukey? No. Huh? Luke wasn’t able to form a complete thought. Normally he could handle anything. He was cool as a cucumber. He was suave. But this? This was new and terrible and he didn’t like it one bit. He liked being looked up to, but he didn’t like being talked to as if he wasn’t there.

“Well, we’re actually kind of in the middle of some personal time. I’m sure you can ask Luke.” She looked up at him with a reassuring smile and grabbed his hand, “But otherwise, we’ll be on our way.”

Jake’s nose turned up as he looked at their clasped, “Wait. You guys are actually dating? I thought that was some weird rumor. You know like your dumb bassist being in some math program.”

“Look, dude, I don’t know why you think I’d take a picture with you when you insult my band mates. That kinda undermines the whole-you-being-a-fan-of-the-band thing. Please excuse us, we were just making our way out.”

“What? No! You _have_ to take a picture with me! I love you!” Jake grabbed Luke’s arm, ripping him and Julie apart. Luke found himself falling to the ground, leaving him to grab purchase on the front counter, knocking over pots of ink from the calligraphy sets.

Dark navy pools of ink coated his and Jake’s arms, dripping off of the counter and onto the hardwood floor. The commotion caused the front desk clerk to run out from the back. “Jake! What the hell did you do?” He shouted.

“Me? I didn’t do a thing? It was these-these-delinquents!” Jake shook his arm, seeing more ink to the floor with a slick sound.

“My office! Now!” The man looked sheepishly at the crowd of patrons that was growing as Alex and Reggie appeared with their selections. “I am so sorry everyone. May I offer you all a 10 percent discount?” 

The patrons seemed satisfied enough and he turned his attention to the gang. He offered the key to the staff bathroom for Luke to clean himself up, or at least try to. The clerk scanned Alex’s ‘Complete Collection of Modernism Works’ and Reggie’s ‘A Brief History of Time’ and ‘The Universe in a Nutshell.’ Julie explained the situation to the man who, thankfully, didn’t question them much further. Luke emerged from the bathroom with his stained arm and they headed to Ripley’s Believe It or Not.

WIth his last few sentences, Luke gave a pointed look to the officer.

“That brings us to what? About 1:30? Is there any way you could speed this up?”

“Hey! You wanted me to start at the beginning, so I did. You’re gonna learn how I ended up like this!” Luke gestured to himself, “Because I will not let my reputation be tarnished by people who think I actively go about my day looking like this.”

The cop smirked and Luke recoiled, “I think you look fine.”

“That’s because you look like an advertisement for Sleazebags Anonymous.” He sneered.

Yeah, he knew Julie would glare daggers at him if she were here. Luckily, he was in the clear. For now.

It made sense that this was the place Reggie wanted to go to. He had collected the hardcover books from book fairs all throughout elementary and middle school, loving the weird and the ugly. They scoured the so-called museum as a little group.

“Look! A cyclops lamb!” Reggie laughed to himself as he ran over to the small stuffed thing.

It morbidly reminded him of Jimi Hendrix and the skull still sitting in the back of the car, rain pounding on the maybe not so reliable windows. He hoped the little guy was doing alright. 

Alex side eyed the exhibit, “You know they probably made a wooden skeleton and covered it in the pelts of sheep then sewed this ‘eye’ in.” He said with heavy quotation marks.

“Suspend your disbelief Alex!” Reggie whined, flopping his arms to his side. He was soon derailed by seeing yet another cyclops animal; this time a goat. Luke only found it a _little_ bit creepy.

“Yeah, it’s Ripley’s Believe it or Not, not Ripley’s Believe it or Nitpick!” Julie supported Reggie with her characteristically bad comeback. Luke patted her on the back, showing his support, even if his face didn’t. He silently mouthed his own, ‘Yeah, Alex.’

The next exhibit showed a calf with two heads and a komodo dragon skeleton. Alex gawked at the car covered in a million swarovski crystals and the Tibetan skull bowls along with the African fertility statues. Something about how he came to appreciate older art more. Julie was enthralled with a Tomb of the Pharaohs cove, which documented the supposed curse of King Tutankhamen and recreations of sarcophagi and organ containers. 

Luke found the sculptures made of strange things to be particularly cool. An eight foot portrait of Einstein made of Toast? Who would spend that much time on something? A castle made of 450,000 matchsticks? Did these people have jobs? Micro sculptures in the heads of needles? His guitar calloused fingers could not even try. His favorite was a picture of Jimi Hendrix made with guitar picks; that he could appreciate. That was pure art. It also might have been a sign.

Just as they were about to move on to Worldly Wonders, he saw a flash of hot pink from the corner of his eye.

“Carrie?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for the kind reception on the first chapter!!! (I now have over 30k words written on ao3 omg!!!)
> 
> I'm having so much fun writing this and I hope you guys enjoy reading it as much as I do! (I hope you don't mind the little exposition too much)
> 
> Please let me know your predictions, or if you have any cool ideas for places that the gang could go! We still have about 7 hours to fill with hijiknks!
> 
> (I do not mean to make fun of or patronize any person and/or victim with the robbery scene. I tried to make it as tasteful as I could, while still having impact. If you notice something wrong or it comes off as such, please let me know and I will edit it :) )


	3. Reggie

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry for the long wait! Thank you for being patient! :)

“Reginald, will you please start from the beginning.” The cop had what Reggie would call a very beige presence. He was boring and uninteresting and Reggie just wanted to inject him with some personality, really. 

“Please call me Reggie!” He sent the man his biggest smile. Maybe an attempt to look more innocent, maybe an attempt to change the tone in the room, maybe an attempt to get the beige man to try and lighten up.

The man raised an eyebrow and had a small smile, “I see you’ll be easier to work with than Alexander Mercer and Lucas Patterson.”

“Oh, Alex hates Alexander, it makes him feel all old.” Reggie did a bumbling impression of his friend, “‘Like who names their kid Alexander? That’s like asking for me to be some sort of mogul.’ Or whatever.” 

The officer already looked like he was having his doubts. “Your friends' stories didn’t match up some of the time. So I’m entrusting you to tell me the truth.”

Reggie burst out laughing, holding his stomach as he wheezed, “Me? Have the whole truth and nothing but the truth? That’s how it goes, right? Yeah, no. I can’t remember what I had for breakfast.”

He let out a belligerent sigh and rolled his eyes, “Just start at the top.”

Reginald was born on a windy Monday at 2:18 in the afternoon. His mother said that he was a light in the dark, that she already knew he was a joyous presence to have in the world. And he would grow to live up to it. His father had said-

“No. No, I meant the beginning of the day. I don’t care about your origin story.” The cop rolled his eyes and Reggie pouted.

“But that’s the best part!” It really was the best part. Happy family, happy Reggie

“Tell me about the car.” And with that, Reggie perked up.

“Betsy! Betsy is a godsend. A true gift to the world. An absolute joy!” 

Reggie was never a morning person.

He preferred midday, when anything was possible. He loved adventure and excitement and being alive. He just didn’t like having to wake up to do it. Beds were a warm sanctuary, the calm before the storm. And to drag someone out of that? No way. Those first 30 minutes of being awake were living hell. Too groggy to do anything meaningful, too awake to peacefully fall back asleep. Constant limbo. 

The band had found this out within the first week of tour. Alex would get up at the ass crack of dawn and make coffee and have that stupid smug smile of his face. The one that all morning people have. The, ‘oh, you’re not awake? But don’t you hear the birds singing songs and see the rays of sun shining, calling me to run over the moor with my friends, the deer and rabbits?’ smile. Or maybe that was just an Alex thing.

Julie was also a morning person, but she always had a good reason. She was just naturally driven to start her day at unreasonable times. And Luke, he was an afternoon person. His favorite time was 4 o’clock, something about the day not quite being over or at least along those lines. They had minimal trouble getting up, unless of course they had just gone to sleep an hour before.

But Reggie just couldn’t, wouldn’t, and shouldn’t. He wasn’t built that way. Thus, it took the team to get him up and drag him out of the bunk, barely conscious. And by the time the tour was coming to a close, Reggie was less resistant to getting up.

But the tour had ended and Reggie was back to his normal routine of waking up past noon. It was glorious. 

That was, until he was woken up by a blaring horn. And a shout from a voice he hadn’t heard in ages.

“Reginald, sweetie! It’s me!” Cried the shrill voice.

He tumbled onto the hardwood floor, still rolled up in his comforter. He blindly stumbled to his front door, dropping the blankets tangled on his limbs and wiping the drool that had crusted on his face. He knew his hair was not worth his time. He didn’t know how early it was, but he already knew the sun hadn’t come up just quite yet. 

He opened the front door in his plaid pajama pants to be greeted with the pale face of his Aunt Cynthia. 

She threw her arms around his neck and rocked him back and forth in a hug, her YSL bag hitting his back, “Oh! Look at you! You’re so big! It’s been forever!”

He looked down at her permed hair, his brows furrowed, “Uh...yeah.”

She pushed him to the side and strolled into his small flat, her eyes tracing the walls and the furnishing before flopping down on his couch and propping her feet on the coffee table. She hesitantly set her designer bag on it too, though Reggie would never tell her what else had been on the table. She had clearly made herself at home. She patted beside her, “Come, sit.”

Reggie didn’t know what to say as his feet moved on their own volition.

“My sister tells me you’re in the need of a car.” She offered no explanation on her sudden appearance, her New Jersey drawl strong.

He rubbed a hand on the back of his neck. “Ah, yeah. I’ve been on my bike since the tour.”

“Oh yes! Your little…” She waved her hand towards his bass and acoustic guitar hung on the wall with disinterest. “Band thing.”

Reggie knew that he should have expected that, but it had been a while, and he thought things might be different. He stiffened anyways.

She sighed, ignoring him, “Well, I called her up to see how you were doing.” He knew that was only partly true. “And she told me you were out here. For some reason. Do you have any water? I know you weren’t raised to be this impolite, Reginald.”

“It’s Reggie.”

“Sure. Reggie.” She almost sneered. 

He huffed and got up to get her a glass as she continued. He grabbed a spare shirt from where it hung over a kitchen chair. “I came to offer you a car. In exchange for something.”

At that, he perked up. He really did need a car, he was sure Luke was tired of driving him around. And some house work or landscaping wouldn’t kill him. “What type of something?”

He gave her the glass and sat down in the chair opposite of her. She took a big gulp and smacked her lips, hot pink residue still on the glass, “Even though we all know you’re the…” She pretended she was deep in thought, but knowing his family, he knew that this whole spiel had been perfectly rehearsed. It ran in his blood. “Black sheep of the family, you’re still a _part_ of the family.”

By now, Reggie was becoming disenfranchised. He knew exactly what she was doing and how to do it himself. There was a reason he lived on his own. Reggie rolled his eyes; first you insult the person to get them to want to please you, then you ask for something to let them think they have control, after you act as though you’re all one big part of a family or friends. Then you ask for what you really want. Reggie knew it by heart.

“Reginald, you can still come back to your mother’s with me. You’re always welcome. But that’s not the point. We love each other, right?” 

Reggie didn’t move.

“Yes.” She answered for him and looked to pick at her acrylics, “And as family, we help each other out. And it seems your mother and I are down on our luck right now. And no matter how much we disapprove of your little waste of time, it does prove to be financially beneficial.”

Of. Fucking. Course.

“Aunt Cynthia, that’s why you’re here? I haven’t seen you in literal years. And you barge in like you own the place, then ask me for money? What the fuck?” Reggie let out a humorless laugh.

Her head snapped to him and venom dripped from her voice, “Your mother and I have raised you and given you everything you could ever want, and you still act so ungrateful. I am offering a perfectly good deal. I give you the car and you loan me 10 grand.”

“10 thousand dollars?! How the hell did you end up out 10 thousand fucking dollars!”

His aunt shrugged noncommittally, “We made some ill advised choices.” Reggie knew that meant gambling. 

“No.”

“What?” She seethed.

He schooled his expression into something cool and composed, “I’m not giving you a dollar. Now or later. If mom wants it, she’ll have to come down here and ask herself. I am, however, taking the car.”

“Like hell you are!” His aunt pushed herself up from the couch, her glass of water shaking in her hands. 

“I am. Or else I’ll tell Uncle Terry about your little rendezvous with Uncle Evan. And Uncle John. And Uncle Tom.” He felt a lazy smirk creep onto his face, he knew how to play this game too.

Her mouth went slacked and she gave the impression of a fish out of water. “You wouldn’t dare.”

He failed to mention that he was barely making any money being a full time college student. Or that his father paid for his housing. Or that he didn’t know anything about any sort of affairs. But in his family, they knew not to trust each other.

“You seem to forget that your sister raised me.” He picked up her bag and pushed it into her chest. He then grabbed his keys and wallet from the bowl near the door and slipped on some shoes. She stood frozen. He rolled his eyes and grabbed her arm to usher her out of the door. He gave her a ten dollar bill. “For a bus back. Now if you’ll excuse me Aunt Cynthia, I have somewhere to be.”

“Wait. You’re trying to tell me that your family lives on Carbon Mesa Road? That your Aunt is a Peters? That you’re a Peters?” The officer gave him a look. It was one of the most expensive neighborhoods around.

“Well, technically, she’s a Belmont. _I’m_ a Peters. Reginald Peters.” He supplied. He didn’t really like bringing it up, but maybe now he had some leverage. 

The cop swallowed thickly, but continued, “And when your aunt, who lives on Carbon Mesa, had a car looking like that, you didn’t question it?”

Reggie rolled his eyes. “I was just happy to have a car. And it was just good luck that it turned out to be as good of a car as Betsy is. I didn’t know then, that…” He gestured vaguely with his hands. He didn’t want to say it.

“That she had stolen the car?” The beige man supplied.

He cringed, “Yeah. That. If I had known that she had stolen it, there’s no way I would have taken it for a drive. No matter how pretty she is. Talk about a phony deal. She wanted me to buy a stolen car for 10 grand? Wouldn’t she figure that if I had that much laying around I’d get myself a car? Does she think that I’m that stupid?”

“Well…” The cop started

“I’ll have you know I’m in the top 1% of my class. And I’m going to be an Astrophysicist. Bet you don’t even know how to spell that.” Truthfully, even Reggie struggled to write that word on his papers. But no one needed to know that. 

The cop, who Reggie learned was called Justice, just prompted him along. Reggie’s tone changed, excited to talk about something other than his family. He told him how he picked up Julie and Luke, then Alex and how they headed to the movie theater. He left out the part about them not paying. And the part about him falling asleep. 

He talked about how he slipped and fell, throwing all of their food into the air and all of them. Which helped to start to explain his very interesting appearance; still in his pajama pants, sticky candies stuck to the bottom of them, dried grey paint covering the left side of his black shirt.

He told him about Jimi Hendrix and Luke stopping a robbery, Alex waking up, the bookstore and Ripley's Believe it or Not Museum. And Carrie.

“Carrie?”

Reggie looked away from the display to see that the blonde had turned around the corner with her boyfriend in tow. At first, he figured it was a strange coincidence seeing them here, but it was a Saturday. 

When they approached the group, the air became drier, somehow. Luke grabbed Julie’s hand and Alex scooted closer to Reggie, causing the group to become more condensed. 

Nick looked around, not meeting anyone's eyes, while Carrie stared directly at Julie. “Hello.” 

Julie’s face morphed into a very strained polite smile. “Hey, Carrie.”

There was a silence. Alex coughed.

“I like your sweatshirt, Nick.” Reggie supplied. Compliments usually broke the ice.

“Thanks.” He didn’t bother looking at him.

“We were just talking about coming to see the Dirty Candi show.” Julie tried. They weren’t, really. They were talking about lunch. Just thinking about food made Reggie hungry. Not that he wasn’t always hungry.

Carrie hummed. She knew that was a lie, but it was the thought that counted. An attempt. “Thank you. We’ve been practicing all month.”

Reggie didn’t know if that was a purposeful dig at the somewhat hiatus they were on, or if it was a statement. These days, it has become hard to tell.

“I’m sure you have been.” Alex shoved his hands in his pockets, and the brunet recognized he was becoming anxious. The two groups had come to a standstill once they left for tour; they were both tired of hating each other and respected each other’s performances too much to keep up the catty act. It was only a matter of Julie and Carrie making amends now, which had yet to happen.

“Can you tell Kayla I said hi?” Reggie attempted to lighten the mood. 

Carrie rolled her eyes, “Sure.”

“Actually, she’s been meaning to-” Nick was cut off.

“She’s been meaning to work on the new choreo with me.” Carrie sent a small smile to Reggie. He still couldn’t tell if it was ill meaning, but he had never been too good at social cues. 

“You guys probably need it.” Scoffed Luke. 

Great.

Reggie knew he didn’t need to send him a look, because Julie already had. Julie tried to be polite to everyone, Reggie was more of a forgive and forget kind of person, Alex just tended to avoid confrontation. But Luke? Luke could hold a grudge until he died. Actually, no, he was the type of person to come back and haunt the kid that stole his blue mechanical pencil in fifth grade. 

If the comment bothered her, she didn’t show it and absentmindedly flipped her blonde hair over her shoulder. “I suppose we should get going. We were just about to see the sculptures.”

“Oh, they’re great! The portraits are crazy!” Julie became more enthused. She and Luke had been enthralled with the exhibit.

Carrie seemed to brighten more too, “Aren’t there micro-sculptures in needle heads?”

“Yes! Can you believe being able to do that?”

“The patience you’d have to have! I could never!”

Julie giggled, “You know me, I’m so clumsy, I’d probably destroy it! Oh!” Julie tended to talk with her hands, and she especially does when she’s enthusiastic. “There’s a collection of Disney Princesses!”

The blonde girl couldn’t hold back a grin any longer, “Really? Now we definitely have to see them! C’mon!”

Nick smiled down at his girlfriend and let himself be dragged away, he waved at the group, “Bye!”

But when Reggie went to say something, they were already rushing down the halls. 

“And the candy?” Justice scribbled on a very stereotypical notepad. 

“Shush, I’m getting there. Let me be cinematic.”

Despite their previous agreement to only do indoor attractions, Reggie had started to worry for Jimi Hendrix. The place they had dropped him off didn’t seem to be the best or safest place. And they were getting hungry, since Reggie _accidentally_ dropped their lunch. They decided on the place that had it all; The L.A. Farmers Market.

The place was magical, in a wistful sort of sense. He had been there when he was younger, with his father, but he didn’t recall too much. There was a big clock tower at the entrance that read ‘Farmer’s Market,’ if you couldn’t tell from the plethora of tents. They surrounded the main buildings, which held restaurants and parlors of all sorts. A royal green trolley ran through the center, carrying families of tourists. There had to be a few hundred of the colorful tents, Reggie couldn’t take it in all at once. 

At the entrance, they got a map, which Alex quickly took into his own hands. They pushed past a small group of kids and a chaperone, a family, a group of teen girls, and finally found the main plaza.

“Okay, I vote we get Cajun, there’s a place here.” He pointed at a spot no one else could see but him.

“Nah bro, I heard there’s a rad pizza joint.” Luke seemed to skip along the pavement, as if energy was escaping by any means possible. It was also quite contagious.

But Julie shook her head, “We still have pizza in the fridge.”

Luke narrowed his eyes, “Is Domino's pizza? Is it?”

“It was two days ago.” The Latina girl countered.

Reggie piped up, Jimi Hendrix pulling on the leash made from the seat belt Alex had broken off of Betsy and the harness they had found him in.. “‘Lex, is there a place that has falafel? There has to be.”

Alex hummed and scanned the map, “Yep. Two actually. But one looks more of a sit down and eat type of place. And I figured we want more of a grab and go.”

The band nodded in sync. Reggie figured that it looked quite odd to outsiders, but he didn’t care too much. Jimi Hendrix barked at a vendor selling meat cuts, and Reggie moved to pick him up. Julie snatched the map out of Alex’s hands, the tall blond letting out a hurt noise.

“Ooh! What about Bar-B-Que?” She squealed.

“Not very mobile.” Alex grumbled.

“What kind?” Reggie asked at the same time.

Julie shot him a knowing side eye and smirk. “Texas.”

“Fuck, yes!” Reggie threw his head back in triumph and almost did a fist pump before forgetting that he was holding the small white dog. 

“Julie, why’d you have to mention that.” Alex glared.

The brunet gawked, “You knew and you didn’t tell me?! What kind of monster are you?!”

“A practical one.”

“To be fair,” Luke jutted in, “We all know how you get with Texas style. It’s a little intense.” He grabbed the map from Julie and almost walked into a street light. He was never very good at multitasking.

“What’s intense, is your shirt right now Mr. Rock Star. Or do you just need an extra reminder to ‘Stay Trashy?’” Reggie raised an eyebrow.

“Hey! This wasn’t a conscious outfit choice!”

“Are you sure? I could have sworn I saw that in your suitcase.” Reggie childishly stuck his tongue out. 

“Hey!” Alex interrupted before Luke could formulate an equally dumb reply, “Food!” He pointed to the map in Luke's hands. “You guys can dish it out later!”

Luke and Reggie shared a glance before they rolled their eyes and burst out laughing. Alex was always such a buzzkill.

“How about French? Something a little lighter, so we don’t end up throwing up from heat exhaustion.” Julie supplied. 

Alex nodded. So did Reggie. Luke pretended to mull it over before reluctantly nodding himself. 

“As long as I can get a doughnut.” Alex grumbled. Reggie wondered what sort of stick was up his ass.

The place that Julie had mentioned was a small crepe stand with bar stools that overlooked the hot griddle. Truly, it was the best of all worlds; it settled Alex’s need for something more out of the ordinary, Luke’s need for thin pale bread (that sounded better in Reggie’s head), and his own need for food. Just food in general. Also Jimi Hendrix got his own complimentary bowl of water, which was much appreciated.

The sitting down outside also guaranteed no food related accidents. Reggie was also overjoyed to hear they had Nutella crepes. Nothing was better than chocolate. Not even pizza. And that’s saying something.

Reggie sat on Alex’s right side, Julie next to the blond, the map spread out between them, and Luke next to her. Luke pulled out a pen from god knows where because, as he says, inspiration could strike anywhere. They each got their respective food items at what Alex had said was about 3 o’clock. 

Alex moved to circle The Dog Bakery, “We’re not keeping Jimi Hendrix. He is, after all, a murder suspect. But we should get him some food while we’re here. And a proper leash.” That sounded an awfully lot like ownership to Reggie’s ears, but he said nothing.

“Look, Bob’s Coffee and Doughnuts!” Reggie reached over to point at the dot on the map, his words muffled with food. 

Luke grimaced but Alex’s smile brightened a little more as he circled it too.

Julie pointed out a candle shop, and while Reggie wasn’t the biggest fan of having little flames burn in his house, he had to admit that there was something about walking out of a store completely nose blind, eyes watering. Luke was adamant about a flower store, one that specially sold succulents; that, Reggie could understand. 

“Reg, you’ll never guess what I found.” Alex said

“A Texas BBQ place.” He deadpanned.

The blond rolled his eyes, “No. Something better.” Reggie doubted it.

“A candy shop.”

Oh shit. 

That was better. Maybe even exponentially so. 

Long ago, before they met Julie, and they were still stupid middle-schoolers, Alex forced him and Luke to take a Love Languages Test. While Reggie’s “officially” was quality time, he would, to his dying breath, always insist that it was candy. If someone he heated gave him gummy worms, he would have thought they were soulmates. His stone cold frozen heart would melt with just the smell of red hots. Candy was everything. 

“Have I ever said how much I love you?” Reggie gushed.

The blond smirked knowingly, “Once or twice.”

“Well remind me to say it more often, oh man of my dreams.”

Julie giggled, “I thought Robert Downey Jr. was the man of your dreams.”

“There can be two men, let him live.” Laughed Alex.

They finished up their lunch with a few more stops mapped out, planning to visit those, then circle back around to the entrance to see all of the tented vendors. They went to the Dog Bakery first to arm Jimi Hendrix with all of the things a dog could need, as well as a few canvas bags for their trip. They all got donuts next; Alex got a Boston Creme, Julie and Luke each got classic glazed (how boring), and Reggie bought himself a strawberry sprinkle. Because he’s just that sort of person. 

Reggie impulsively dragged them into the House of Jerky, cause if they skipped him out on Bar-B-Que, he was getting beef jerky. Somehow, Luke ended up getting the most items from there, much to his chagrin. 

Alex and Luke split off to go to the succulent and shower shop with Jimi Hendrix, while Julie and Reggie headed to Dylan’s Candy Bar. 

Right as they stepped into the store, his world was blown to pieces.

It was Reggie’s favorite place by far. It was everything Reggie could have wanted as a kid. Hell, even now. The front room had circular stands of candys sorted by type; chocolates, gummies, gum balls, nuts. The walls were covered in gumball wallpaper where there weren’t candy dispensers of all sorts. A whole wall was dedicated to jelly beans and another to swirly rainbow lollipops. There was a fucking chocolate wall with what looked like chocolate dripping from the ceiling and shelve made of chocolate bars. Even a chocolate fountain.

But the best part of all was the center of the room. The sculpture was of a lollipop holder that reached up to the ceiling. The lollipops reached up to the top of the ceiling with colored glass swirls and dots, starting smaller from the bottom, and fanning up to four feet in diameter. It was a whole lollipop tree. 

Seven year old Reggie was loosing his fucking mind. 

Julie seemed to have the same out of body experience he was, “I-, can you, I mean, how the-”

She was cut off by a disgruntled looking mom with a group of children trailing behind her, “Excuse us.”

They moved to the side, before running wild. Acting completely like the young adults they were. Totally. One hundred percent. Absolutely. Reggie grabbed a box and stuffed it full of all of the gummy bears and jawbreakers and toffee and cinnamon candies. Julie raced to the chocolate shelves and took down Easter bunnies and chocolate covered fruit.

“Reginald Peters!” Reggie whipped his head around to see Julie holding a 10 pound Toblerone bar above her head. “Look what I found!”

Reggie raced over to her, his boxes of candy in tow. “You have to get that. I’ll help you pay. Where the hell are you going to find another one.”

She pretended to sniffle and dab her face with a handkerchief, “I just love it. I’ve never loved anything more. Thank you for this opportunity.”

Reggie playfully rolled his eyes, “You’ve always had the flair for the dramatic.”

Just then, he felt a tap on the top of his flannel clad leg, he looked down to see a small black haired child, “You’re blocking the bars.” He sniffed.

“Oh, sorry.” Reggie and Julie moved out of the way. 

They moved onto the jelly bean assortment and tried each flavor one by one, from Bean Boozled Stinky Socks and Dog Food, to Birthday Cake and Peach and Lime. Reggie decided the Chocolate Covered Cherry was his favorite, while Julie was torn between the Peppermint and Banana Pudding. They decided to leave the giant Toblerone in the store, Julie having to convince him that it would be too big to lug around for another few hours. 

A small girl tugged on Julie’s jacket, “Excuse me miss, can we get there?” 

Reggie looked to see a growing group of what looked to be elementary aged children, all grouped up to get to the jellybeans. He swore they hadn’t been there for more than a few minutes. Where did all of them come from? How did they all fit in here?

Julie moved out of the way but he didn’t move without an eye roll. He liked kids, really he did, but they can learn to share. 

They then moved again to the assorted lollipops and gazed up at the rainbow sorted wall.

“Holy fuck-” Reggie was cut off by a different mom than before, her own pool of children at her feet.

“There are children here!” Her sharp sloping bob didn’t help her stern face. Or her chunky highlights. Reggie already didn’t like her.

“Um, sorry.” Julie gave her a strained smile.

The woman gave her an up and down, then turned to Reggie, “You -delinquents- should pay more attention to your surroundings. We don’t need you rotting up this space with your foul language.”

A chorus of ‘yeahs!’ came from the growing sea of children, more coming through the doors with more adults in matching backpacks. It was a wonder they could all fit in there. There had to be at least 50. Where were the workers? There had to be a capacity limit. Fire hazards and whatnot.

“We can keep it down. But, like, maybe the kids could respect the other customers. We all deserve a turn at each station.” Reggie gave a warm and disarming smile, one that would appease even the most viscous soccer moms. 

The woman grumbled but walked away towards the hard candies, the gaggle of children following her.

Suddenly a new rush of kids flooded through the doors. They were a little older than the previous ones and all had matching bright red t-shirts on. They pushed and shoved in a screaming match, like animals, to the walls and tore down displays of candies. Chaperones in similar red shirts tried their hardest to part the red seas, but they were mowed down. 

Reggie and Julie watched in horror, still holding their bags of candy, as children scrambled to the jelly bean dispensers and pushed down on the lever, spilling candy directly into their mouths. Kids started opening easter bunnies and eating them, taking gumballs out of the buckets and throwing them at each other. The louder louder the children became, the louder the chaperones did. 

Workers came and attempted to usher them out, but it was no use. A blonde worker was pushed down by a mean looking 8 year old. Another counselor was tackled and brought to the ground by a gaggle of them, after he dared to snatch candy out of their hands. The precious Toblerone bar was now being scavenged by the buzzard-lie children. It was in utter chaos.

Reggie and Julie stood frozen, and he wondered if he should call mall security. But that seemed like a lot. Surely, other patrons could see in the store and see the chaos. But when we went to look, he only saw knocked over displays and disaster.

Just then, he felt warm sludge coat the bottom of his fleece pants. He looked down to see what appeared to be chocolate. To his left, a child with a chocolate covered mouth and hands stood next to the knocked over chocolate fountain, which had apparently splashed on him. 

Reggie was about to become a murderer.

That was, before Julie grabbed his hand and pulled him through the sloughs of children. One boy charged at her headfirst, only for her to take the hand and push him away, falling back. A girl reached to pull the bag of gummies from Reggie’s hand, but he snatched it away just in time. They could almost see the door now. They ran through a rain of jawbreakers, and through an ocean of skittles and M&Ms, their broken jars nowhere to be seen. One kid was pelting them with Oreos, and another with zebra cakes. Broken bottles of Butter beer and soda lined the entrance, causing the pair to slip and slide before they reached the doors they had entered through.

At last, they saw sunlight.

They had made it out alive, but with bags of candy still by their side, unpaid for.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all of your kind comments on the previous parts!
> 
> I love to hear that my writing is effective lol
> 
> (not me realizing that we have a little bit more to go and adding a chapter...)

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading!!!
> 
> Please leave feedback, I'd love to hear you guy's comments!
> 
> All places that the gang goes to are real! Please let me know if you know anywhere they should visit!
> 
> -Lacey


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